Piston packing-ring



UNITED; STATES PATENT- OFFICE;-

ROBERTI. ERLICHMAN, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

Pis'roN PACKING-RING.

Application filed May 14, 1919. Serial No. 297,171.

.- To all whom it may concern:

' a new and useful Piston Packing-Ring; and

I do hereby declare the following to-be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the in% vention, such as will enable others skilled .in i

the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of this invention is to provide an improved piston packingring, which .is applicable to pistons of any type, but particularlythose forming a part of an internal combustion engine.

Another object is to form such a packing ring in such manner as toprevent leakage of steam or gases of combustion past the piston carryingsuch ring, and simultaneously to aid in lubricating the cylinder wallsthroughout their complete circumference.

And a further objectof the invention is to provide a piston-ring havinga transversely extending zig-zag severance at one portion to permitexpansibility and" contractibility of said ring, while the out-ercircumferential surface of the ring is provided with a groove which maybe said to wander from one to the other edge portions of the ringsurface. This groove in shape partakes of the nature of that type ofgrooves which form a characteristic'detail of cylinderor drum-cams.Consequently, for the purpose of this description and the claimsappended hereto, the term cam or wandering groove is used in order todenote the shape of groove just referred to.

\Vith these and other objects in view, theimproved devicecomprises'de'tails of construction and operation fully brought out inthe following description, when read in confunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a development 'of the outercircumferential surface of the improved piston packing ring; Fig.2 isaside elevation of the ring in normal shape; and Fig. 3 is a transversesection of a portion of the ring taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1. g V

Referring to the drawings, a ring is provided having exterior andinterior circumferential surfaces 1 and 2, respectively, and made of asuitable type as to afford the required resiliency which ischaracteristic of an artieleof this nature.

.ter of Fig. 1.

For .the purpose of describing thedetailsf of the device, it should besaid that the ring is bounded transversely by plane faces -3 an'd 4:,while circumferentially the ring 'is' milled out from opposite sides toprovide recesses 5 and 6, said recesses being bounded by alined centralwalls 7 and 8.and at their ends by angularly. extending walls 9 and 10,while the end portion having the recess 5 terminates in an angularlydisposed wall 11 parallel with the wall 10, and the other end portion ofthe ring'terminates in a similar angularly disposed wall 12 parallelwith the wall 9. This construction obviously makes Specification of1.etters Patent. Patented Sept. 28, 1920- it possible for the adjacentend portions of the ring to constantly cooperate in sliding engagementalong the walls 7 and-8 substantially regardless of the extent to whichthe ring expands and contracts, both in accordance withthe 'heat and'thediameter of the cylinder employed.

The exterior surface 1 is then provided ticularly noticeable that saidgroove .wan-

ders as it were from the side 3 to the side 4;

and back again to the side 3, as the grooveis traced from the recess'5around the circumference of the ring to the recess 6.

This formation of the groove 13-4 is provided in order that, as thepiston carrying the ring causes the latter to travel in the direction ofthe arrow A, the wall 14 of said grooves tends to scrape "a portion ofthe oil filIn' from the surface of the piston cvlinder, the oil lodgingwithin said groove. However, it will be'rea'dily noticeable that oil canmore readily enter the groove in question where it terminates in therecess 5 as the ring travels in the direction stated, wherefore, thediametrically opposite portion of the groove is purposely brought asnear as convenient to the side wall 4, in order that the traveling ofthe ring will force this oil adjacent to the ends of said groovescircumferentially in opposite directions, until after successive pistonstrokes at least a portion of it has progressed to that portion of thegroove shown in the cen- Vith this construction, the tendency of thisparticular type of groove is to insure a uniform lubrication between.the ring and the surrounding cylinder throughout the entirecircumferential extent of the two.

Wherefore, it has been found that a piston packing ring constructed inaccordance with the foregoing description naturally increases theefliciency and decreases the wear of the slidably cooperating surfaceswithin a cylinder of a given engine, and that the combination of saidgroove with the lapjoint hereinbefore described offers the simplestconstruction which it has been possible to devise to accomplish thepurpose desired.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protectby Letters Patent of the United'States is 1. A packing ring, providedupon its exterior surface with a circumferentially extending cam-groove,the surfaces defining saidgroove being oblique with respect to theadjacent surface of the ring and con verging inwardly.

2. A packing ring, having a transversely extending cut to permitexpansibility and compressibility of the ring, and a wanderinggroove inthe exterior surface of the ring, said groove extending from one side ofsaid cut circumferentially of the ring to the other side of said cut,and alternately from one side of the ring transversely of its outersurface to the other side of the ring.

3. A packing ring, having a transversely extending cut to permitexpansibility and compressibility of the ring, and a wandering-groove inthe exterior surface of the ring bounded'by inwardly convergingsurfaces, and one of the surfaces of said groove .being at an obtuseangle to the adjacent exterior surface of the ring.

4. A packing ring, having a Zig-zag severance at one point to provideflexibility of the ringyand a circumferentially extendingwandering-groove in the exterior surface of the ring, having one of itsdefining surfaces lying at an obtuse angle with the said exteriorsurface, to provide an under out pocket and an overhanging ledge.

5. A packing rin having a zig-Zag sevcranceat one point to provideflexibility of j the ring, and a circumferentially extendingwandering-groove in the exterior surface of the ring, having itsdefining surfaces converging inwardlv and. the bisector of the angleformed by said last-named surfaces extending in a diagonal directionfrom the entrance to the groove.

6. A packing ring, provided upon its exterior surface with acircumferentially ex tending cam-groove, the surfaces defining saidgroove being oblique with respect to the adjacent surface of the ringand converging inwardly, one of the surfaces defining said groove lyingat an obtuse angle with the adjacent surface of the ring, to form anundercut circumferentially elongated pocket and an overhanging edgeportion.,

7. A piston packing ring, comprising a member having a cylindrical outersurface and transversely severed to permit expanst bility andcompressibility of the ring, and the said surface being provided with acircumferential groove wandering alternately from one to the other ofthe laterally opposite sides of said member and defined by two laterallyopposite surfaces converging inwardly at an acute angle, and the bisector of said angle extending at an acute angle with the said outersurface.

8. A piston packing ring. comprising a member having a cylindrial outersurface and transversely severed to permit expansibility andcompressibility of the ring, and the said surface being provided with acircuinferential. groove wandering alternately from one to the other ofthe laterally opposite sides of said member and defined by two laterallyopposite surfaces converging inwardly at an acute angle, and one of saidsurfaces forming with the adjacent portion of the said outer surface anacute angle, to providean under-cut recess bounded by an overhangingedge portion adapted to scrape the surfaces of a surrounding pistoncylindcr.

I in testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT I. ERLICHMAN.

lVitnesses E. B. P. CARRIER, N. 1*]. SUPPLEE.

